One Nations-African Union mission (UNAMID) was shot dead and another was wounded after a “mob” attacked their police post inside a refugee camp in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Reports say the peacekeeper lost his life at approximately 3:15 a.m., when a gang surrounded and fired at the staff in the mission’s office.
The UN peacekeeper was a member of Bangladesh’s Formed Police Unit.
The armed “mob” reportedly fled after the police unit returned fire.
UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran
According to acting Joint Special Representative Aichatou Mindaoudou, the attack on peacekeepers is cowardly deplorable and the mission’s thoughts go to the families and friends of the fallen and the injured.
Ms. Mindaoudou stresses that this act constitutes a war crime under international law.
Ms. Mindaoudou also calls on the Government of Sudan to continue to make serious efforts to apprehe nd the culprits and bring them to justice.
UNAMID is tasked with protecting civilians, promoting an inclusive peace process and helping ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance across Darfur, an arid region on Sudan’s western flank.
Earlier this year, a Nigerian peacekeeper was killed and three wounded in an ambush in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.
The attack on the joint UN-AU peacekeeping force (UNAMID) took place near Saleah, Eastern State of Darfur.
Nigerian, Tanzanian and Egyptian troops operate in that area.
It was the first fatal attack on UNAMID peacekeepers this year, but more than 30 have died since the mission’s establishment in 2007.
Eleven staff members perished when the world body’s offices in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, were attacked by a suicide bomber on 26 August 2011. According to media reports, 23 people died in total as a result of the attack on UN House, while 116 others were injured.
A total of 10 UNAMID peacekeepers have been abducted since 2008, when the mission began its mandate to protect civilians in Darfur. At least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million driven from their homes as a result of the fighting that has ravaged the region over the past seven years.
An estimated 1.9 million people are living in camps for those displaced by the conflict.
